A really important work in the history of music, never mind the musical reception of the Bible, is Arnold Schoenberg\u2019s Moses und Aron. In my class on the Bible and music, it\u00a0provides an opportunity for us to talk about one of the most significant shifts in the history of music, namely the serial approach to music that Schoenberg developed. That\u00a0Schoenberg was Jewish but converted to Protestantism provides an opportunity to talk about antisemitism with students.<\/p>\n
Before getting to Exodus, we might say he first backs up\u00a0to Genesis for a radical new beginning.\u00a0Berthold Viertel has said, \u201cDie Jakobsleiter looks like the catechism of a new religion. Of Schoenberg\u2019s religion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron are on religious stories from Torah, reworked for the present day. Both are unfinished.\u00a0Jamie James suggests that this is intentional and symbolic, hinting at the ineffability of the divine name and of full musical expression. See his The Music of the Spheres: Music, Science, and the Natural Order of the Universe <\/em>(Springer 1995).<\/p>\n Moses und Aron spells the name of Moses\u2019 brother that way in order to have 12 letters in the title of the work. Many suggest that Moses represents the composer himself, and Aron\u2019s more melodic voice and willingness to lead the people in worshiping the golden calf represents the willingness to compromise ideas of pure art for popularity, or even for better motives. Yet the symbolism of the tone rows indicates the imperfection of Moses\u2019 own grasp of the divine, and leaves the status of the two brothers more ambiguous \u2013 probably another reason the work was never completed.<\/p>\n Matt Page has a number of posts on his blog about Bible movies that explores the cinematic rendition of this work by Dani\u00e8le Huillet and\u00a0Jean-Marie Straub:<\/p>\n 1973 Schoenberg\u2019s portrayal<\/a><\/p>\n 1974 Moses und Aron opening<\/a><\/p>\n Review of <\/a>Beno\u00eet Turquety<\/a>\u2018s book\u00a0Dani\u00e8le Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub: \u201cObjectivists\u201d in Cinema<\/em>\u00a0which includes the Moses und Aron<\/em> film<\/a>.<\/p>\n His post about another of their movies, Cezanne<\/a>, also makes comparisons with Moses und Aron.\u00a0Page also looks at other movies that deserve comparison with the film version of Moses und Aron for one reason or another, such as the 1986 movie Der Tod des Empedokles<\/a> and the 1992 film\u00a0Antigone<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also related to Jewish music, see this review of a new book about Irving Berlin:<\/p>\n